October 15, 2012

The Morning Wrap

Specter
Dies: Former
Senator Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) died Sunday from complications of non-Hodgkins
Lymphoma, The Philadelphia Inquirerreports. The five-term senator, who
was the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman from 2005 to 2007, was 82.

D.C.
Homicides: Murders
are difficult to solve and prosecute in Washington despite a drop in homicides
from a peak of 482 in 1991 to 108 last year, The Washington Post reports.
The newspaper reviewed almost 2,300 homicides in D.C. between 2000 and 2011,
finding that less than a third have brought a murder or manslaughter
conviction.

Giant Leap: Austrian Felix Baumgartner went supersonic on
Sunday, jumping from a balloon that was more than
24 miles above Earth's surface to break the world record for the highest skydive, Space.comreports. "I know the whole world is watching now, and I wish the world could see what I see," Baumgartner said before the jump. "And sometimes you have to go up really high to see how small you really are."

Google:
Federal Trade Commission staffers are
close to recommending that the agency sue Google over allegations that the
company has stifled competition with its Internet search dominance and caused
online advertising prices to rise, The Associated Press reports.
"We are happy to answer any questions that regulators have about our
business," Google said in a statement.

Lance
Armstrong: The
Am Law Daily speaks
with U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) lawyers about the investigation into
claims that cyclist Lance Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs. The interviews follow the release of the organization's 202-page reasoned decision
effectively labeling cycling's biggest star a fraud. Bryan
Cave litigation partner Richard Young, who served as outside counsel to the
USADA during its Armstrong investigation, said he was sure Armstrong and his
lawyers would head to arbitration in an effort to bankrupt the agency.
"Lance has more money than the agency," Young said. "So I
expected a contentious prehearing period, but also that we'd have a lengthy hearing
and an arbitration panel would write the reasoned decision instead of us."